Argentine Championship 2023: Peralta wins fifth title
Fernando Peralta defended his national title in the 98th Argentine Chess Championship (98 Campeonato Argentino Superior). A native of Lomas de Zamora won this event for the fifth time, following his success in 2006, 2018, 2020 and 2022. The 98th Argentine Championship took place from October 28 to November 7 in Palacio de las Aguas Corrientes. The format remained unchanged – a twelve-player round-robin, but compared to last year’s edition, the 2023 championship was not as strong for obvious reasons. Alan Pichot (former top-rated Argentinean player) changed federation, while Sandro Mareco (current #1) competed in the FIDE Grand Swiss on the Isle of Man. Still, the tournament was a very close race among the top-rated participants that came down to the wire again. Coming into the final, Fernando Peralta and Federico Perez Ponsa jointly lead the field a full point ahead of the chasing pack. Peralta drew with the black pieces in a hectic game with Leonardo Krysa, while Perez Ponsa did not manage to break the resistance of the second lowest-rated FM Ariel Tokman on the white side of Caro-Kann. To determine the champion, a two-rapid-game tiebreak was played. Despite having unpleasant positions in both encounters at some point, Fernando Peralta drew the first one and pulled off a win in the second game to clinch the title. GM Leonardo Krysa and IM Pablo Ismael Actorsta tied for third place, netting 7/11 each, with the former claiming bronze thanks to a slightly better Sonnenborn-Berger. Final standings: 1 GM Peralta, Fernando 2580 8 2 GM Perez Ponsa, Federico 2527 8 3 GM Krysa, Leandro 2546 7 4 IM Acosta, Pablo Ismael 2482 7 5 FM Tokman, Ariel 2306 6½ 6 GM Valerga, Diego 2428 6 7 GM Tristan, Leonardo 2523 6 8 IM Villca, Julian 2383 5½ 9 FM Gomez, Carlos David 2331 4½ 10 WGM Francisco Guecamburu, Candela 2345 3 11 Silva, Luca 2287 2½ 12 FM Miranda, Rafael 2343 2 Photos: Federación Argentina de Ajedrez Facebook
2023 World Amateur Championship: Leaderboards taking shape
The leaderboard began to shape up after the 6th round of the 2023 World Amateur Chess Championship, organized by the Omani Chess Committee in cooperation with FIDE. Round 6 had several surprises in store – pleasant and unpleasant, wins, losses, draws and missed opportunities, in intense and exciting clashes between players from all over the world. The top of the standings has been formed in all the categories to some extent, but with three rounds to go, it is still wide open. The ceremonial first move of Round 6 was made under the patronage of His Excellency Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Hamidi, the Mayor of Muscat, at the main hall of the Sultan Qaboos Complex in Bowsher. Kazakhstani player Abilmansur Abdilkhair confidently leads the under-2300 category thanks to a sixth consecutive win, this time against Indian Indrajeet Mahindrakar, in a game that lasted over three hours. Abdilkhair enjoys a perfect 6/6 score, while Victor Arce Benito from Spain is in second place, one point behind. In the under-2000 category, Dashtogtokh Amarsaikhan of Mongolia defeated R Sham from India in a closely contested game and emerged as the sole leader with 6 points, one point ahead of the closest pursuer, Indora Punit (India). We finally have the sole leader in the Under-1700 category. Aleksandr Martynov (pictured above) claimed the top position after beating his main rival, Hamed Imani Lasaki (Sweden), with the white pieces. With this win, Martynov kept his 100% score (6 points) and pulled away from the pack, led by the Mongolian player Ganbat Danzanjunai with 5.5 points. In the women’s under-1700 category, Mongolian Bat-Amgalan Anujin prevailed over Binoj Shybi (FIDE) in a remarkable tactical clash, notching up her sixth straight win and consolidated her first place in the standings, a full point ahead of her teammate Baldanjantsan Khuslenzaya. Text: WACC 2023 media team Photos: Entisar Nasser Al-omiiri, Hamed Al-Mabsali, Abduallah Al-Rashdi, Salma Hamood, Salem Al-Salhi Official website: worldamateur2023.fide.com/ Results and standings: worldamateur2023.fide.com/result/ Results of the rounds: https://worldamateur2023.fide.com/result/ Live games: Open U-2300chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/fide-world-amateur-championship-2023-u2300#live Open U-2000: chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/fide-world-amateur-championship-2023-u2000#live Open U-1700: chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/fide-world-amateur-championship-2023-u1700#live Women U-1700 https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/fide-world-amateur-championship-2023-w1700#live Live broadcast (English/Arabic): youtube.com/@Omanchesscommitteeoman About 2023 World Amateur Chess Championship FIDE World Amateur Chess Championship 2023 is organized by the Omani Chess Committee together with the International Chess Federation, with the financial support of Gold sponsors: Syool, Apollo Hospitals, Oman LNG. Bank Muscat, Otaxi, Oronamin C Drink as well as Diamond sponsors: Asyad, OMIFCO, and Oman Airport.
FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships 2023 to take place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan
The ancient city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, is set to host the 2023 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships from December 26 to 30. This five-day tournament will gather the world’s top chess players, vying for the title of the World Champion in Rapid and Blitz across the Open and Women’s categories This December, history and chess will meet in Samarkand, one of the oldest inhabited places on earth. Samarkand was a pivotal city along the historical Silk Road trade route and also holds historical significance for chess: It was in this city where the earliest known chess pieces were discovered in 1977, dating to between the 6th and early 8th century AD. “FIDE recognizes Uzbekistan’s rich chess tradition and its recent emergence as a chess superpower. This dedication and investment in chess led us to entrust the hosting of this prestigious event to Uzbekistan,” FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich said. “Uzbekistan will also host the 2026 Chess Olympiad – and hosting such a major event as World Rapid and Blitz will certainly give a boost to preparations,” Dvorkovich added. Uzbekistan has rapidly ascended in the world of chess. In the recently concluded FIDE Grand Swiss, three Uzbek players finished in the top 20, emphasizing the country’s strong presence at the top. Notably, the nation claimed victory in the 2022 Chess Olympiad among 188 competing teams and secured the second position in the World Teams Championship after China. Currently, Uzbekistan has four players in the world’s top 100, including Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who in 2021 became the youngest person to clinch the title of World Rapid Champion (at the age of 17). The upcoming FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships in Samarkand follows Uzbekistan’s successful hosting of Pool B of the 2022/23 Women’s Candidates edition in the ancient city of Khiva. FIDE looks forward to an exceptional event and welcomes players to Uzbekistan! More details, including information about registration, hotels, and visas, will be published by November 15. Photo: Ekrem Canli OFFICIAL PARTNERS: Freedom Holding Corp. is a US-based financial services holding company. Through its operating subsidiaries, Freedom Holding provides services like retail securities brokerage, research, investment counselling, securities trading, market-making, retail banking, corporate investment banking and underwriting services in Eurasia. The Company has retail locations in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan and Germany. The Company’s financial services business provides retail securities brokerage, research, investment counselling, securities trading, market making, corporate investment banking, underwriting, complementary banking services and retail banking services to its customers. Its subsidiaries include LLC Investment Company Freedom Finance (Freedom RU), a securities broker-dealer; LLC FFIN Bank (FFIN Bank); JSC Freedom Finance, a securities broker-dealer; Freedom Finance Cyprus Limited (Freedom CY), a broker-dealer; LLC Freedom Finance Uzbekistan (Freedom UZ), a broker-dealer and FFIN Securities, Inc. (FFIN). Official website: freedomholdingcorp.com/ Kaspersky is a global cybersecurity and digital privacy company founded in 1997. Kaspersky’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into innovative security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company’s comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and specialized security solutions and services, as well as Cyber Immune solutions to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky technologies and we help over 220,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at kaspersky.com. Chessable is the world’s leading e-learning platform and home to the largest library of online chess courses, including masterclasses by chess world champion Magnus Carlsen, top-10 player Anish Giri and 8-time Russian chess champion Peter Svidler and many more. Chessable is the #1 science-backed chess training app to study chess openings , strategy and endgames. Learning chess from top GMs and coaches made easier. Official siteFacebookTwitterInstagram
EDU Commission announces its 12th Preparation of Teachers course
Dear chess friends, We are pleased to offer another exceptional opportunity to enhance your teaching skills and get certified as FIDE School Instructors! FIDE Chess in Education Commission is pleased to announce the dates of this year’s last Preparation of Teachers course. The course will be held online in English from 1-3 December 2023. The target audience is teachers, chess educators, and beginner and advanced players with basic chess knowledge and experience working with children. Participants, based on their exam results, qualify for the FIDE title of School Instructor. Upon successfully completing the course, participants will get lifetime access to the Opening Master premium chess database, which currently contains over 9.6 million official over-the-board human chess games and is growing monthly. Read the detailed course description here. Candidates who wish to attend the course must complete and return the registration form. The cut-off date for applications is November 27. Applicants are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, and the maximum number of places on the course is 20. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at edu.courses@fide.com